Thread by @noraflanagan

I coach junior roller derby. For the five years I've been coaching, we have welcomed trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming skaters. We might have been the first youth sport to do this. Here's what I've seen: (🧵)

Parents have openly cried when they find out there's a sport their kid can play without hiding or minimizing who they are. Literally stood in the middle of a roller rink and wept.

And then the coaches cry right along with them, because some of our coaches are trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming (and/or gay, bisexual, or otherwise non cis het), and they know a little something about feeling unwelcome in athletic and youth spaces.

Sidebar: roller derby players have Very Strong Feelings about roller derby being a welcoming space. We're the sport for people who didn't have a place. We are the Island of Misfit Toys with wheels tied to our feet. Derby people who want to exclude LGBTQ+ skaters miss the point.

I've seen kids as young as 9 and all adjacent family members learn and use skaters' names and pronouns (derby names help), respect and welcome everyone's identities, and get to know each other on and off the track.

I've seen skaters of all genders get comfortable in their own bodies, push their limits, try something they were sure they couldn't do -- all the joys and perks of playing a sport, but also more, because they've been told they can't.

When a kid who has been told by some that their body isn't valid learns to hip-check someone? LOOK OUT. When that same kid becomes a leader, someone their teammates look up to, someone other parents want their kid to emulate? MORE CRYING.

When we travel to play, we inform the announcers of our skaters' pronouns and ask that they not refer to our skaters as 'girls' or 'ladies.' (More than one reason for this.) They are athletes, skaters, roller derby players, superheroes, or our team name, the Chicago Riots.

Have you ever seen a trans, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming kid hear their gender affirmed over a loudspeaker in front of hundreds of screaming fans? I have. And I wish I could bottle up that moment and hand it out to every kid who doesn't feel seen or respected.

I'm also a teacher and a GSA sponsor. I have watched kids struggle with the impacts of exclusion, bullying, invisibility. We need MORE spaces where these kids are welcomed and valued, not less.

Roller derby is a fringe sport that stays off most people's radars except for an occasional news story or (usually inaccurate) movie or tv show. But those of us who skate know it has saved lives. We know what's possible, and we listen to transphobic policy debates with sadness.

I'm mostly saddened to know my skaters hear these debates, too. I'm sad that they can't always feel as safe and valued as they do at roller derby practice. I wish people who try to weaponize these kids could see what I see. The world could learn a few things from roller derby.